Alarm is rising among Manchester citizens that a predatory serial killer could be roaming the city’s streets. Some 60 corpses have been hauled from local waterways in the past six years.

Rumors of an unhinged murderer dubbed the Pusher, who supposedly
prowls the city’s waterways, have gathered momentum in recent
years.

Locals remain divided on the theory.

Some dismiss the claims as mere urban legend while others are
concerned that a serial killer, who allegedly hurls his
unsuspecting victims into the city’s murky canals, actually
exists.

Between August 2010 and
August 2012, a third of all deaths in UK waterways occurred in
the vicinity of Greater Manchester.In addition to the 60 bodies found
in Manchester canals since 2008, a further 20 were discovered in
local rivers.

Head of psychology at Birmingham City University, Craig Jackson,
said he has seen freedom of information requests probing the
deaths.

The requests, which were sent to sent to Greater Manchester Police by
the Daily Star,asked for details about the scores
of bodies found in Manchester’s canals.

Jackson said the number of people who had been found in
Manchester waterways was disturbing.

“I’m certainly keeping an open mind as to what’s been
happening. I can’t disprove a serial killer,” he said.

Jackson told the Daily Star the police believe there is no
connection between the deaths.

The psychology professor stressed Greater Manchester Police have
concluded the deaths were a result of suicide or misadventure.

But Jackson, who studies the psychology behind suicide,
emphasized people who choose to take their own lives “rarely
choose canals as their method.”

“If you were to try and kill yourself through drowning it’s
very hard to do it in a canal, unless you weigh yourself down
with a rock or something heavy,” he argued.

Jackson said he did not believe these deaths were suicides. He
went on to reason that the removal of the suicide hypothesis from
the overall picture might indicate the population of Manchester
is exceptionally “clumsy and careless.” He said he
thought this was highly unlikely.

“There’s lots of canals in London, Nottingham and Birmingham
where there are lots of pubs by the canals and we don’t have a
fraction of the number of bodies in the canals that we’ve seen in
Manchester.”

The most recent body
found in the waterways was detected several days before Christmas
in the Newton Heath area of Manchester.

Souvik Pal, 18, was discovered in the Bridgewater Canal in 2013.
He had been seen walking alongside a man who was never found or
traced. His inquest returned an open verdict.

The body of Chris Brahney, 22, was discovered days after he
disappeared in 2012 in the Manchester Ship Canal. An open verdict
was also recorded at his inquest.

A large proportion of the bodies dragged from the waterways were
in Manchester’s Canal Street, which is parallel to Rochdale
Canal, where 14 have died in the past 15 years.

The district is home to the Manchester’s lively Gay Village,
notorious and cherished for its wild party scene. One particular
stretch of waterway is known to be quite dangerous.

Bar workers and their clientele in Manchester are divided on
whether rumors of the Pusher, also known as the “Gay
Slayer,” are true.

Tony Keeling, a National Rail worker, told The Times many people
who visited Canal Street might not report suspicious incidents to
local police.

Aaron Wilson, a manager at Manchester's Pop bar, told The Times
he's heard rumors about the Pusher.

He said the suggestion that one guy pushed 60 people into
Manchester's canals and was never caught by police seemed
unlikely.

In an official statement released on Wednesday, Greater
Manchester Police said the cases relating to the scores of bodies
discovered in Manchester were “subject to separate
investigations” and no evidence to suggest the deaths were
linked was found.

“On some occasions, people have been charged with offences
relevant to that particular investigation. Whilst in other cases,
it remains uncertain how people came to be in the water,”
the statement said.

“These cases have then been presented at inquests before Her
Majesty’s Coroners and ... absolutely no evidence whatsoever of
foul play has been established.”

Greater Manchester Police said it has requested Professor Jackson
discuss his findings with the force.